Rising through the ranks
Spicer celebrates 20 years with SSPD
During his tenure with the Siloam Springs Police Department, Derek Spicer has been handed his fair share of surprises. However, his biggest surprise to date may still be the day a captain brought an application for a field officer position to his dispatch desk and said have it back to him by the end of the week. At that point, Spicer had only been with the department for six months and was “doing his time” before looking into other opportunities. The captain saw Spicer’s skills were more valuable elsewhere.
Capt. Derek Spicer’s 20year career spans dispatch, patrol, field training, criminal investigations, special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team, school resource and more. To Spicer, it’s a servant mentality that every member of emergency services possesses.
“I’ve coached basketball, football, T-ball, all before I even had a kid in those sports,” Spicer said. “If you go and look at how many police and firemen are volunteers within their community — things we don’t have to do — we do have a pride in our community because we are sworn to protect this community and defend the people in it. The volunteer side of it just goes hand in hand. It is our community. It is our town.”
To those around him, it’s qualities like loyalty, honesty, dedication and awareness Spicer innately has that have propelled him to where he is today.
“He’s one of the officers that when I got here I identified as having the traits and skill set to go further in his career if he wanted,” said SSPD Chief Jim Wilmeth. “He’s one of the sworn officers that I have very deliberately been helping to develop so they can perform at an executive level, because I see those leadership traits in him.”
Those traits begin with Spicer’s interest in building his own skill set so he understands how the department functions and what his subordinates may need, Wilmeth said. It’s closely followed with his intentional efforts to just be better, Wilmeth said.
Spicer has been nominated to attend the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy, a program split into three tiers geared toward refining leadership in law enforcement with intranational and international attendees. Departments around
the globe can nominate potential participants. The SSPD has had one captain attend and graduate the program and another slated to go this summer.
Spicer’s interest in not only educating himself, but educating others, has had a profound impact on the department and Northwest Arkansas as a whole, said fellow Capt. Scott Miller.
Miller and Spicer began their careers at the SSPD within six months of each other and have a long history working together in patrol, criminal investigations and narcotics.
“One of our goals as a department is to be the tip of the spear, to be cutting edge,” Miller said. “When Derek started to teach at the academy here, he was teaching things like ethics and stuff no one wanted to teach. It was dry and bland. But he did such a good job the impact he has had over the last 10 years throughout Northwest Arkansas and law enforcement has been tremendous.
“I would say Derek has been pretty instrumental in bringing something like post traumatic stress disorder awareness, not only to our department, but to the academy and to Northwest Arkansas as a whole and getting that message out there. Because of that, our department has been very proactive on after-action debriefs and things of that nature, to where if we recognize an officer has gone through a traumatic event, we provide counseling and talk to that individual. We keep an eye on them and make sure they’re coping with it healthily. It’s never going to go away and it’s always bad, but we’re making sure that as a community and as a department we’re doing what’s best for our guys to help them through the situation rather than what we had to go through. Which was go home. We expect you back here. Act like it never happened.”
Spicer said his professional experience in dealing with trauma and the pitfalls associated with it — divorce, addiction, and in some cases suicide — drive him to continue to teach and encourage other
“I like teaching young officers. Not just the technical aspect of things, but how to live your life as a police officer. The emotional roller coaster, the impact it’s going to have on you and your family and your children. Technically we can train most anyone, but we can’t train heart.” — Derek Spicer
officers to teach.
“I like teaching young officers. Not just the technical aspect of things, but how to live your life as a police officer,” he said. “The emotional roller coaster, the impact it’s going to have on you and your family and your children. Technically we can train most anyone, but we can’t train heart.”
Spicer’s heart shines through much of his work, both professionally and personally, his boss said.
“Derek is one of those people who has helped my tenure here to be effective,” Wilmeth said. “I admire his honesty, his dedication to his personal code of ethics, and I deeply admire his sense of commitment to what it is we do.
“He has the ability to give people their dignity back when they feel like they’ve lost it or its been taken away from them. I truly admire that about him.”
Spicer applies the same type of care to his family, his wife Michele said.
“He’s a very devoted family man,” Michelle said. “If he can make anything, he’s there. He’s also very devoted to his people, always. He’s very loyal, very honest and irreplaceable to me. I hope our kids can follow his leadership and know he prioritizes family.”